Don't link terrorism to Islam: Jaswant

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 15. Terrorism should not be linked to Islam, as it will result in dividing, instead of uniting, the world community against terrorism, the External Affairs and Defence Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, said today at the two-hour all-party meeting, convened here by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, in the wake of the recent terrorist strikes in the U.S. This was disclosed by the Parliamentary Affairs and Communications Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, who briefed presspersons after the meet.

Mr. Singh had said that the fight against terrorism should not be confined to the NATO countries but involve democracies, including India and the Arab nations. New Delhi was in touch with Washington and the Indian agencies were extending cooperation to the U.S. agencies. India was also in contact with several countries, including Russia, China, France and England. If required, Mr. Singh could travel to these countries in the next two weeks, Mr. Mahajan said.

Indicating that the U.S. could target Afghanistan, which it considered the hotbed of terrorist activities, in retaliation to the attacks on New York and Washington, Mr. Singh said the Indian subcontinent would have to bear the maximum impact of the action. The fight against terrorism would be a prolonged affair and the Government was alive and alert to the developing situation. It was taking all steps to ensure the safety of its citizens and vital installations.

Some party leaders, Mr. Mahajan said, had suggested that India should take advantage of the world opinion against terrorism in its fight against Pakistan-backed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.

While backing the Government in its effort to deal with the situation arising from the attacks, the Opposition had suggested that, considering the possible fall-out on the economy, the Government should ensure that the impact was minimum on the poor. (The CPI(M) general secretary, Mr. Harkishen Singh Surjeet, said later that he had suggested that the rich be taxed since the poor were already suffering).

The Congress had extended cautious support to the Government. Its representatives, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Shivraj Patil, urged the Centre to ensure that ``any strategy to combat terrorism is credible, effective, sustainable and defensible in the eyes of international law and world public opinion.'' Dr. Singh also urged the Government to consider the likely impact of the proposed action since it was important to anticipate the likely fall-out and consequences of international action on India.

The Union Ministers, Mr. L. K. Advani and Mr. Vijay Goel, attended the meeting. Others included Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP), Mr. K. Yerran Naidu and Dr. Alladi Rajkumar (TDP), Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Mr. P.N. Siva (DMK), Mr. Digvijay Singh (Samata Party), Mr. Birbhadra Singh (BJD), Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Mr. Prem Chand Gupta (RJD), Mr. Sudip Bandhopadhyaya (Trinamool Congress), Mr. P. A. Sangma (NCP), Mr. Ajoy Chakraborty and Mr. Gaya Singh (CPI), Mr. Devendra Prasad Yadav (JD-U), Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD), Dr. Sushi Kumar Indora (INLD), Mr. Abani Roy (RSP), Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti), Mr. P. D. Elangovan (PMK), Mr. Ali Mohd. Naik (NC) Mr. Chandravijay Singh (ABLC), Mr. Debabrata Biswas (AIFB) and Dr. C. Krishnan (MDMK).

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